Chettinad Pakora Curry : Pakoda Kozhambu

Master Chef India was the first time I ever heard the word “Chettinad”. The episode where all the participants were given the challenge of preparing food for over 50 people based on a specific Cuisine. And one of them got this option of Chettinad Cuisine. That was when I Googled it the first thing next day. (BTW, I like saying “Googled” it, rather than looked for it or searched for it. It sounds so much cooler! )

So anyway, I Googled the cuisine next day and got to know some really interesting facts about it. Again, being a typical North Indian lass I was not much aware of the differences in various cuisines from the South of India. Except few basic facts like Dosa being called Dosai and Idli can also be eaten with Chutneys instead of Sambhar. Here, South Indians.. apologies extended. Peace!

Coming back to the Chettinad Cuisine, I would like to enlighten those who share my level of understanding of the Cuisine. So to start with- Chettinad cuisine is originated from Southern District of the state of Tamil Nadu and has evolved a lot with time. Making it an interesting mix of flavours from ancient cities like Bangalore, Tanjore, Madurai, Udupi, Mysore, Cochin and of course Chennai.

Chettinad cuisine is famous for its use of a variety of spices in preparing mainly non-vegetarian food. The dishes are hot and pungent with fresh ground masalas, and usually topped with a boiled egg which is considered an essential part of the meal. A variety of sun dried meats and salted vegetables are also used, reflecting the dry environment of the region. The meat is restricted to fish, prawn, lobster, crab, chicken and lamb. Most of the dishes are eaten with rice and rice based accompaniments such as dosais, appams, idiyappams, adais and idlis.

These were just my two pennies about the origin and history of this Masaaledaar Cuisine, you can always refer to Wikipedia for more information. As of today I am going to give you a recipe that speaks for itself. This Chettinad Pakora Curry was suggested by Priya for this month’s challenge of South v/s North team. Being a part of the North team, I prepared this last weekend for Lunch. And what an amazing treat it was, I could still taste lingering my buds.

This was my first time preparing Chettinad cuisine and since I had not tasted this particular curry before, I was not entirely sure about what to expect or how it should really taste. But take my word for it, it was absolutely delicious.

The use of coconut, cashews and roasted chana dal in this curry adds a whole new dimension to the regular onion-tomato gravy. Curry leaves and the roasted chana dal reinforce the South Indian flavors while the vada with crushed fennel seeds offer a new surprise at every bite. Do I sound like bragging? Maybe I am. You would too if you had this curry. Go on. Try this super tasty Chettinad vada curry

Chettinad Pakora Curry : Pakoda Kuzhambu

A deliciously different curry from South India- This Chettinad Pakoda kuzhambu is very different from the usual Kofta curries. Chana dal vadas dunked in rich and spicy gravy made of coconut, chana dal and cashews. Serve it with soft dosa or chapatis

Course
curry, Main Course

Cuisine
South Indian

Prep Time15minutes

Cook Time40minutes

Total Time55minutes

AuthorNupur @ The Veggie Indian

Ingredients

For the vada:

1/2cupChannadal

3-4Dry red chillies

1tspFennel seeds

Salt

Oil for frying

For Gravy:

2Onionschopped finely

2Tomatoeschopped finely

4-5Garlic podschopped

2-3Green chillies

1tbspCoriander powder

1tspRed chilly powder

2tbspOil

Salt to taste

leavesFresh Corianderchopped

For seasoning:

1/4tspCinnamon powder

2 Green cardamomscrushed

2leavesBay

1tspFennel seeds

leavesFew curry

To grind together:

1tspPoppy seeds

4tbspGrated coconutfrehs or frozen

6-8Cashew nuts

1tbspRoasted Chana dal

Instructions

Prepare the vada:

Soak the Chana dal for two hours.

Take the soaked dal, dry red chillies, fennel seeds, salt together and grind as bit coarse paste with very little water.

Heat oil for frying, and fry small shapeless pakodas (vada) with the batter

Fry the pakodas until they turns golden brown. Drain the excess oil with a paper towel and keep aside.

The paste:

Grind all the ingredients given under the list 'to grind' as fine paste with enough water. Keep aside

Prepare the curry:

Heat oil in a pan, add the spices given under 'for seasoning' and fry until they turns brown.

Add the chopped onions, tomatoes, garlic, green chillies all together for 4-5 minutes till the tomatoes get all mushy and nion leaves its raw smell

Now add the grounded paste to the onion-tomato mix, and cook for 4-5 minutes on low flame. .

Add 5cups of water, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt, give a stir and cook in medium flame. Add some more water if needed, to keep the gravy a bit runny and not dry since Pakodas also would need enough water to soak in

Once the oil gets separates slightly from the gravy, add the pakodas immediately and close the lid.

Dont stir the gravy after adding the pakodas, but just bring it to a boil once and turn off the flame.

Granish with fresh cilantro and serve hot with rice or Chapathis

Recipe Notes

This is very similar to the Kofta Curry we make in North India, but with the addition of Coconut and Poppy Seeds. These two ingredients actually changed the whole taste of the curry, which was very much liked by us

You can also sprinkle some Garam Masala on top, or add some cream before serving. Just to give this curry a creamier and richer taste.

You can also add a bit of Moong or Urad Daal to the Chana Daal batter for a slightly different taste

Same with me, although I did eat my dosa and idli with only chutney all the time but that is just for my love for the chutney. What I find interesting, even more than the south-indian cuisine is the names – some are intricate, some are funny and others are just tongue twisters! 😀We also make pakode ki subzi but the curry is nowhere similar to this one, so I am looking forward to try this one. 🙂